study terms Flashcards
Who created the Working Memory Model?
Alan Baddeley created the Working Memory Model in 1974, which includes components: Central Executive, Phonological Loop, Visuospatial Sketchpad, and added the Episodic Buffer in 2000.
What did Sir Frederic Bartlett contribute to memory research?
He proposed that memory is reconstructive and conducted the ‘War of the Ghosts’ study, introducing the concept of schemas.
What is Clive Wearing known for?
Clive Wearing suffers from severe amnesia with a 30-second memory span, experiencing both anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
What did Hermann Ebbinghaus study?
He was the first to study memory scientifically in 1885, created the forgetting curve, and used nonsense syllables.
What are the types of memory distinguished by Endel Tulving?
He distinguished between episodic and semantic memory and developed the encoding specificity principle and the remember/know paradigm.
What happened to H.M. (Henry Molaison) after his brain surgery?
He lost the ability to form new memories but could learn new skills without remembering the learning process.
What did Müller and Pilzecker discover?
They discovered memory consolidation, showing that memories need time to stabilize and introduced the concept of retroactive interference.
What is the function of the Alerting Attentional System?
It maintains vigilance and readiness, helping you stay alert to new information.
What role does the amygdala play in memory?
The amygdala processes emotional memories and links emotions to experiences, being critical for fear conditioning.
What is anterograde amnesia?
Anterograde amnesia is the inability to form new memories after brain damage, while old memories remain intact.
What is articulatory speed?
Articulatory speed refers to how fast you can repeat words mentally, affecting verbal working memory capacity.
What is articulatory suppression?
Articulatory suppression involves saying irrelevant sounds to prevent rehearsal, disrupting the phonological loop and showing the importance of inner speech.
What is autobiographical memory?
Autobiographical memory consists of personal life memories that combine episodic and semantic memory and are reconstructed or modified over time.
What are bottom-up attentional processes?
These processes are driven by stimulus features and involve automatic attention capture based on sensory input.
What is the concept of cell assembly in memory?
According to Hebbian theory, neurons that fire together wire together, forming the basis of memory traces and networks of connected neurons.
What is chunking in memory?
Chunking is the process of grouping information into meaningful units, which increases memory capacity and works with Miller’s 7±2 rule.
What is content addressability in memory retrieval?
Content addressability refers to retrieving memories from partial information, differing from computer storage as it is based on content.
What are Cornu Ammonis (CA1, CA2, CA3) regions?
These are regions in the hippocampus with different roles in memory formation, with CA3 being important for pattern completion.
What are cues to recall?
Cues to recall are prompts that help retrieve memories, which can be internal or external and are context-dependent.
What is declarative memory?
Declarative memory is conscious, explicit memory that includes facts and events and can be verbally expressed.
What is digit span?
Digit span is a measure of working memory capacity, typically around 7±2 items, with forward and backward versions.
What is distributed practice?
Distributed practice involves spacing out study sessions, which is more effective than cramming and allows for better consolidation.
What is distributed testing?
Distributed testing involves taking multiple practice tests, which is more effective than just re-reading and creates multiple retrieval paths.
What is encoding specificity?
Encoding specificity states that memory retrieval is best when conditions match encoding, emphasizing the importance of context for recall.
What is the entorhinal cortex?
The entorhinal cortex is the gateway to the hippocampus, containing grid cells that are important for spatial memory.
What is episodic memory?
Episodic memory refers to memory for specific events, including context of time and place, and personal experiences.
What is the executive control attentional system?
This system controls voluntary attention, is located in the prefrontal cortex, and manages focus and concentration.
What is explicit memory?
Explicit memory is synonymous with declarative memory, involving conscious recollection of facts and events.
What is the forgetting curve?
The forgetting curve, discovered by Ebbinghaus, shows rapid initial forgetting that slows over time.
What is the general systems consolidation model?
This model explains how memories become permanent through the transfer from the hippocampus to the cortex, which takes time.
What are grid cells?
Grid cells are neurons in the entorhinal cortex that create a mental map of space, aiding in navigation.
What is iconic memory?
Iconic memory is a very brief visual memory that lasts for milliseconds, similar to a visual echo.
What is implicit memory?
Implicit memory refers to unconscious memory, including skills and procedures that do not require conscious recall.
What are know and remember judgments?
These are different types of recognition: ‘Remember’ refers to recalling specific details, while ‘Know’ indicates familiarity without details.
What is memory accessibility?
Memory accessibility refers to the ease of retrieval, which is affected by cues and differs from availability.
What is memory consolidation?
Memory consolidation is the process of stabilizing memories over time, which can be disrupted.
What are mnemonic techniques?
Mnemonic techniques are strategies for improving memory, including methods like loci and acronyms.
What is the multiple trace model?
The multiple trace model suggests that multiple memory traces exist, with the hippocampus always involved, allowing old memories to remain vivid.
What is neglect syndrome?
Neglect syndrome is an attention disorder where individuals ignore one side of space, often following a stroke.
What is the Norman & Shallice supervisory system?
This model describes attention control, distinguishing between automatic and controlled processes related to executive function.
What is the orienting attentional system?
The orienting attentional system directs attention to specific locations, functioning like a spotlight of attention.
What is overlearning?
Overlearning refers to learning beyond mastery, which strengthens memory and reduces forgetting.
How does Parkinson’s disease affect memory?
Parkinson’s disease impacts procedural memory and is associated with movement disorders related to dopamine.
What is pattern completion?
Pattern completion is the process of filling in missing information, a function associated with the CA3 region of the hippocampus.
What is pattern separation?
Pattern separation involves distinguishing similar memories, a function of the dentate gyrus that reduces interference.
What is the perirhinal cortex?
The perirhinal cortex is involved in object recognition and is part of the temporal lobe, working alongside the hippocampus.
What is the Peterson and Posner model?
This model identifies three attention networks: alerting, orienting, and executive, each associated with different brain areas.
What is the phonological loop?
The phonological loop is a component of working memory that serves as a verbal rehearsal system with limited capacity.
What are place cells?
Place cells are hippocampal neurons that fire at specific locations, contributing to the creation of cognitive maps.
What are primacy effects?
Primacy effects refer to better memory for the first items in a list, attributed to rehearsal and part of the serial position curve.
What is procedural memory?
Procedural memory is a type of skill memory that is unconscious and involves motor learning.
What is the pronunciation time effect?
The pronunciation time effect indicates that longer words are harder to remember, which affects memory span and relates to rehearsal.
What are recency effects?
Recency effects refer to better memory for the last items in a list, associated with working memory and short-term storage.
What is the reconstructive nature of memory?
The reconstructive nature of memory suggests that memories change over time and are influenced by schemas, unlike a video recording.
What is semantic memory?
Semantic memory encompasses general knowledge and facts about the world that are not tied to specific episodes.
What is sensory memory?
Sensory memory is a very brief storage system that includes iconic (visual) and echoic (auditory) memories.
What is the serial position curve?
The serial position curve is a U-shaped learning curve that shows primacy and recency effects, with middle items being remembered the least.
How does sleep affect memory retention?
Sleep is crucial for memory consolidation, with different sleep stages playing varying roles, particularly REM vs. non-REM sleep.
What is the span of immediate memory?
The span of immediate memory refers to short-term capacity, typically around 7±2 items, which can be affected by chunking.
What was the focus of Sperling’s experiment?
Sperling’s experiment studied iconic memory using the partial report technique with a brief visual display.
What is state dependency in memory?
State dependency refers to improved memory retrieval when in the same physical or mental state as during encoding, highlighting the importance of context.
What are top-down attentional processes?
Top-down attentional processes involve goal-directed attention that is under voluntary control and based on expectations.
What is the total time hypothesis?
The total time hypothesis states that learning is proportional to study time, with distributed practice being more effective than massed practice.
What is Tulving’s HERA model?
Tulving’s HERA model describes hemispheric encoding/retrieval asymmetry, highlighting left/right brain differences in encoding and retrieval.
What is the visuospatial sketchpad?
The visuospatial sketchpad is a component of Baddeley’s model of working memory that holds visual and spatial information.
What is the word length effect?
The word length effect indicates that longer words are harder to remember, which is related to rehearsal and affects memory span.
What are the characteristics of working memory?
Working memory has limited capacity, involves active manipulation, and consists of multiple components.
What is working memory span?
Working memory span refers to individual differences in memory capacity, which can predict performance.
